The second round of debate over the Uptown football stadium proposed by Tulane University is slated to start soon, with the university meeting with the community over design issues next week, and the New Orleans City Planning Commission studying the interim zoning district the week after that.

The June 12 planning commission hearing is not slated to address the specifics of the Tulane project in particular. Instead, the agenda item is “to consider the establishment of an Interim Zoning district, to prohibit the construction of any building or facility within college and university campuses that will result in a building or facility in excess of 250,000 square feet of gross floor area and will cover a footprint of more than 50,000 square feet within any residential zoning district” in older areas of the city.

If the interim zoning district passes, Tulane will then have the opportunity to appeal it, which starts yet another round of review — this time, explicitly about the particulars of the Tulane project. Like any other request for a land-use change, the stadium issues will be heard first by the City Planning Commission, then by the City Council.

The interim zoning district “doesn’t mean stop it,” said Kelly Butler, who handles land-use issues in Councilwoman Susan Guidry’s office. “It just means ‘prohibit’ it without further review.”

While that process begins, Tulane will begin rolling out the details of various aspects of its stadium proposal in a series of community meetings. The first will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, about the stadium’s “design and usage,” university spokesman Mike Strecker said in an email. The meeting location has been changed to room 201 of Richardson Memorial Hall (just off St. Charles Avenue on the Gibson quad).

Traffic and parking issues will be discussed at 6 p.m. June 18, and the final community meeting is scheduled for July 11.

I can remember going to the “old” stadium and watch the Saints play and we always parked in the same ladies yard. Great times, however it was 40+ years ago and things have changed alot since then and parking is AND WAS an issue.